Dux Bellorum (Future History of America Book 3) (47 page)

Erik stuck out his hand.
 
"Erik Larsson.
 
I don't think we were properly introduced."

Lucy shook it, her hand delicate and but clammy.
 
"Lucy.
 
Shelton.
 
Lucy Shelton."
 
She blushed.
 
"Nice to meet you.
 
I like your wife—I mean she's nice," the girl said quickly, her face even redder.

Erik glanced at the stairs and cleared his throat, trying not to smile.
 
"Yeah, I like her, too.
 
So how is she?"

Lucy blinked.
 
Then she shook her head.
 
"Uh...oh—
Lindsay
," she said, tucking a lock of jet-black hair over a pink ear.
 
"Right," she said with a nervous laugh.
 
"Yeah—the fever's getting a little worse.
 
I didn't have any of the fresh stuff on me, just what I found in the stores.
 
I think pretty much most of the Tylenol we have is expired.
 
We're going to need to make a supply run."

Erik looked up the stairs.
 
I can't leave Brin.

"I talked it over with Brin," Lucy said softly.
 
"She's very pretty, by the way."

Erik smiled sheepishly.
 
"Thanks.
 
She's…uh, okay with this?"

Brin came down the stairs and gave him a meaningful look.
 
"They'll be fine, Erik.
 
I'll stay here with the kids."

Erik took a subconscious step back from Lucy.
 
He felt naked without the comforting weight of his pistol or rifle.
 
I can't leave her.
 
I can't leave the kids.
 
Ted will skin me alive.
 
He glanced at Lucy as she moved over to chat with Brin.
 

I really don't want to be out alone with
her
, either.
 
God, things are tough enough with Brin as it is…but we need the medicine.
 
And it would be good to know where the hell they keep everything.
 
At least I'll have some operational knowledge of what's going on here.

"Go," Brin said, snapping Erik back to reality.
 
"I'll be fine."

Erik nodded.
 
He ignored the smile on Lucy's face.
 
"You're sure?"
 
Come on, please say no.
 
I'll go with the kids, you go with her.

Brin smiled, and it melted Erik's heart. It was the first time she'd smiled in what seemed like forever.
 
Her eyes flicked to Lucy, and she took a step back toward the stairs.
 
"I can still take your ass in a fight.
 
I'll be okay—you might need her to help you out."

Erik swallowed.
 
"I'll be back as soon as I can. "
 
He leaned in to kiss her out of habit.
 
She immediately jerked back, like he'd slapped her.
 

"I–I'm sorry–" he said, hands up to assure her he didn't mean anything.

Brin shook her head.
 
"Don't worry about it," she said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
 
She glanced at Lucy, then turned and stumbled up the stairs.

"That was weird…" Lucy said, her arms folded across her chest.
 
"You guys okay?"
 

Erik turned, feeling the heat rise in his own cheeks.
 
He cleared his throat and adjusted his sweatshirt.
 
"It's fine.
 
Let's get going."

"Okay," Lucy said as she stepped lightly over to the door.
 
"You might want to grab a bottle of water.
 
It's kind of a hike."

Chapter 48

The Farm

E
RIK
WIPED
THE
SWEAT
from his brow as he stepped into the Ag Sciences building southwest of campus.
 
The survivors had taken control of the university farm after the collapse and he had to admit, they'd done well for themselves.
 
The main buildings sat secluded in a forest of oaks, colorful maples, and pines.

He looked back the way they'd come.
 
The winding road disappeared through a dense canopy of bright reds, oranges, and yellows.
 
From South College, the farm was completely hidden.

No wonder we didn't see it when we came up from the interstate.

He unfolded himself from the mountain bike Lucy acquired for him back on campus an hour ago.
 
They'd walked into a chemical engineering building that had become a storage warehouse.
 
Inside, they found a few student-survivor clerks.
 
They found rooms upon rooms packed with unused chemistry equipment, bicycles, scooters, mopeds—even a SmartCar.

Lucy had led him south on a bike of her own and they'd pedaled steadily, bypassing the major intersections in favor of side roads.

"Anyone out and about is a target this far from campus," she'd explained over her shoulder as they sped south.
 

Erik struggled to keep up—he hadn't ridden a bike in years and grunted a non-committal response.

"The couriers try to stick to the shadows, you know?
 
We have to bring food and water and medicine north every day or so…"

"Why don't you just use cars?" Erik asked, gliding through a deserted intersection.
 
He listened to his bike
click-click-click
in idle
as they continued south.
 
The noise carried a long ways.
 
He kept his head moving, looking for threats.

"They're too loud—besides, the Professor wants to keep all the fuel in reserve…"

"Reserve for what?"
 

"Oh.
 
Uh, for the generators at the farm and for the well pumps, that sort of thing.
 
I don't really know," she said, weaving around some trash in the road.
 
"I just do what I'm told, you know?"

Erik had wondered at the wisdom of making multiple trips north with food and supplies—commodities that were easily worth killing for in the outside world.
 
As he stood at the entrance to the main Ag Science building, he shook his head.
 
The Professor and his crew lived on the main campus while all their resources were here.
 
Long term, that was a recipe for disaster.

"Wow," he said, staring at the stocked shelves, full-to-bursting with canned goods and pickled vegetables.

Lucy smiled and tucked that stray lock of black hair over her ear again.
 
"Yeah, pretty cool, huh?
 
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
 
We're trying to dig a system of tunnels out behind the fields for the rest.
 
Like cold storage."
 
She looked away for a moment, almost as if someone had tapped her on the shoulder.
 
"Oh.
 
Well, I mean—that's what I've heard."

Erik wiped the sweat from his face to hide his grin.
 
These people wouldn't know what OpSec is if it bit them in the ass.
 
How are you guys still alive?

"So how long have you and Brin been married?" Lucy asked suddenly.
 
Her face turned beet red and her hands flew to her face.
 
"Omigod I asked that out loud, didn't I?"

Erik blinked, unsure how to react.
 
"Uh…yeah."

She closed her eyes.
 
"I am
so
sorry.
 
I…sometimes when I get nervous I say what I'm thinking or I talk way too fast and I just end up making things worse, because I never think anyone will take me seriously because I'm—"

Erik laughed.
 
"It's okay.
 
Really."

She blushed again and covered her face in her hands.
 
"I am so embarrassed."

How do I handle this?
 
He reached out and awkwardly to pat her arm then stopped.
 
"It's okay.
 
Really
.
 
Lucy, you don't have to be upset."
 
He laughed again.
 
"Just give me a few minutes, I'm sure I'll do something that will have you laughing."
 

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes.
 
"I'm sorry.
 
It's none of my business, I just…Brin—your wife," she rolled her eyes.
 
"Of course she's your wife, you know that…I mean, she seems so nice and cheerful, and then whenever I mention you or she hears or sees you, she gets all…"

Erik sighed.
 
"Yeah."

"I was just—no.
 
I'm sorry, I can tell by the look on your face you don't want to talk about this.
 
This is stupid."
 
She took a deep breath and smoothed her shirt.
 
"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Erik said, trying to be nice.
 
"You were worried, and you spoke up.
 
To be honest, I don't know what's wrong.
 
We haven't been speaking much lately.
 
Not since we…" his voice trailed off as he remembered the way Brin looked when she'd gunned down Stepanovich during their prison camp escape.
 
It was the last time things had been anywhere near normal between them.

"It's none of my business.
 
I'm sorry," Lucy said softly.
 
She stepped back quickly when he looked at her.
 
Clearing her throat, she gestured down the hall over her shoulder.
 
“Anyway, the med lab is this way.
 
We should, uh, we should get going."

Erik followed her in silence for a few moments.
 
A change of subject was on order to clear the weirdness in the air between them.
 
He had no feelings for her whatsoever, but it still felt like he was on a first date.

"You have a lab down here?" he asked, staring at the overhead lights.
 
Holes had been cut in the ceiling and sonotubes installed, leading all the way to the roof.
 
The lobby and most of the main hallways were flooded with bright, natural—energy-free—sunlight.
 

"How tall are those tubes?"

"Oh, those?" asked Lucy, looking up.
 
"They go up through to the roof.
 
We had to cut holes through the floors above us."

Erik followed her into a side room with a hand-painted red cross on the door and a sign that read "Medical Laboratory: Authorized personal only".
 
His amusement over the misspelled signage ended with an open-mouthed gasp as he stepped into another well-lit room.

Electric instruments filled the lab.
 
Lights, monitors, computers—
computers!—
hummed
all over the room.
 
Erik felt like he'd just walked into a dream.
 
He turned around, ignoring the surprised looks from the men and women in white lab coats as they carried test tubes and trays of amber goo to and fro.

"What is this place?"

"This is where we make miracles," said a voice behind him. "Lucy, who is this?"

Erik turned to stare into the face of a man who's appearance screamed 'scientist'.
 
From his rumpled lab coat, to his thick glasses and unkempt hair, and slight frame—Erik would have pegged him for someone who leaned over microscopes all day from a mile away.
 

"Dr. Norris, this is Erik," Lucy said, blushing.

The older man looked at Lucy for a long moment before turning his brown eyes on Erik.
 
"You have a last name?
 
Or do you just
look
like a Viking?"

"Larsson," Erik said, extending a hand.
 
"Erik Larsson."

The scientist grunted, but took Erik's hand.
 
The grip was strong but brief.
 
"Don Norris.
 
I'm the madman in charge of this facility.
 
What can I do for you, Mr. Larsson?"

"Erik and his group have agreed to help us," announced Lucy before Erik could open his mouth.
 
"I brought him here to pick up some antibiotics."

Norris stared at her.
 
"Does Oscar know he's here?"

“Yes, sir."

“Oscar?” asked Erik.

“The Professor,” offered Lucy.

Norris frowned.
 
“I refuse to call him by his title like it’s an
actual
title.
 
I’m a professor too, but you don’t see me demanding people call me that.”

"I'm supposed to be helping you folks beef up your security," offered Erik.
 
"As payment, the Profes—uh, he agreed to give us some medicine for my friend's daughter.
 
She's got an infection."

Norris rubbed his upper lip, the pencil-thin finger making a scratchy noise.
 
"How bad?"

Erik shrugged.
 
"Bad enough—she's got a pretty good fever.
 
Had it now for about 2 days."

"She's pre-septic," said Lucy, jumping into the conversation like a 5-year-old seeking attention.
 
"I examined her myself."

Norris sighed.
 
"Well, you'd better go take it up with Doc.
 
She'll probably want to see the patient, too.
 
In the meantime, let's get you some meds."

Erik followed the research scientist over to a massive refrigeration unit built into the side of the building.
 
He unlatched the pad-lock and swung open the seven-foot door. Cool air poured out—it felt wondrous on Erik's skin.